Page 62 of Unbinding the Demon
“Well now, let’s see here...” He brought the book up to his face for close inspection. “You very poetically wrote about how heartbroken he made you, but you didn’t give a single detail about what exactly happened.So tell me what he did!...And where I can find him.“ His voice held a maniacal, bloodthirsty tone.
“Yeah, that’s because what he did really fucking sucked, and I didn’t want to write it down on paper! Plus, it happened six years ago, so it doesn’t even matter anymore!” I glared up at him.
Nancy fucking Drew over here had better be satisfied with that answer and not press any further about this...
“I’m not satisfied with that answer, and I will keep pressing this matter further until you tell me what exactly he did!” His arm tightened around my waist, and his face held an intense expression that saidspill-the-fucking-beans.
“Okay, okay, jeez.” I held my hand up in defeat. “I’m only going to tell you this because you’re my current boyfriend, and I should be open with you about my past sexual partners.” My eyes then narrowed at him, as I thought of a clever way to avoid his question. “But first, what’s your sexual history like?” I smirked tauntingly.
“I’ve fucked hundreds—no, probably thousands of both men and women, but you’re my favorite. Now stop avoiding my question and answer me!” he said in a serious tone while glaring at me with an impatient scowl.
I scoffed at his absurdity. “Alright, fine, you egotistical liar!” I took a deep breath and gazed over at the wall, readying myself to spew the painful story as quickly as possible. “I dated Fabian when I was 17. He told me he loved me and that because we were dating, I had to sleep with him, so I did. I gave him my virginity. He insisted on taking pictures too, and then he cheated on me a week later. After that, he told everyone I was a slutty whore who cheated on him and showed all his buddies the photos and they circulated around the school. Then he left me for the other girl. But it’s in the past, and I don’t give a fuck anymore! And please stop reading my diary before you get to what Lance did!”
I peeked up at Ashton, who looked so intensely infuriated that I wouldn’t have been shocked if literal tempestuous black clouds began swirling above him. He shoved my face against his side and threw his long hair over my head, so I couldn’t see anything other than a curtain of silky midnight black. My arms flailed helplessly around, but he held me firm.
“What the!?”
“I swear by the all-mighty powers of Hell that thisFabian boy,and whoever the fuck Lance is, will meet heinously agonizing deaths by my hand. I will mercilessly torture and slaughter them both, all while smiling with great pleasure.” His voice was insanely deep and dark, chilling my blood and sounding like it came straight from the gnathic pits of Hell.
“Keep your booming, diabolical voice down, you psychotic maniac! There are cops right downstairs, for crying out loud!” My furious voice was muffled, with my face still held hostage against his side.
He laughed maniacally. “Do you really think I care if those donut-munching ninnies hear me when Fabian and Lance are still out there, freely roaming the earth and wasting our precious oxygen!?” He growled their names with disgust.
“Yeah, and speaking of oxygen... I need to fucking breathe!” I kicked and squirmed until his grip ever so slowly loosened around me. My head lifted, and I gasped for air. “Are you fucking insane!? You have literally murdered three people, and you have the balls to be yelling about that right now!? You don’t need those cops and detectives hearing you!” I whispered to him in a sharp tone.
“And soon it will be five people that I’ve killed.” He glared at me as if he were accepting a challenge. “Hear me now, all you worthless cops and detectives!”Oh my gosh, is he fucking serious?“I will make the blood of Fabian and Lance flow in rivers from their putrid, rotting flesh! I will remove their eyes from their sockets and their tongues from their mouths! I will slice—”
As I tried to shush him and slap my hands over his loud, bellowing mouth, my eyes landed on the dairy. I pounced over his lap and tried to snatch it out of his hand. “Ah-ha!” I exclaimed in victory! Ashton stopped yelling like a hellish fiend, but to my disappointment, he didn’t release the book. My hands latched onto the book, and we began a pitiful game of tug-of-war. I was using all of my self-proclaimed mighty strength, while he casually held on to it with one hand.
“You didn’t really think you’d get this back before I could read about what Lance did, did you, Buttercup?” he taunted as he effortlessly pulled on the book, causing me to stumble forward.
“Just give it back, for Pete’s sake!” I gritted out as I struggled to get my very personal diary back.
A small photograph came fluttering out from its pages and landed on Ashton’s thick tree trunk of a leg. The picture was one that my aunt had taken of Lacey and me when we were only seven years old. We were sitting in a patch of yellow tulips with big, bright smiles, wearing cute matching light blue dresses and white bows in our hair. He picked it up and examined it with a slight smile. “You and Lacey have been good friends for quite a long time. No wonder she cares so much about you.”
“Yeah, since kindergarten, actually. She invited me to sit next to her on the first day, and we shared my special crayons that Aunt Elowynn had gotten me.” I smiled at both the memory, and the fact that he now seemed to be distracted from his outrageousI will slaughter all of your ex-boyfriendsrampage...Thank goodness that picture fell out!
He handed me the photograph, then stuffed my diary into his jacket. “I’m keeping this for later,” he said with narrowed eyes.
God fucking dammit...
I scowled at him with annoyance, but then I frowned to myself as I looked at the picture in my hand. I realized he knew most of my friends, but I knew nothing about his. He had never spoken about them. In fact, he was vague about his family, too. I knew he had two siblings, but I didn’t know their names or genders or anything about them at all.
I watched him with curious eyes as he finished packing the last box up. “Ehem...” I pretended to clear my throat. “So, um, do you... you know, have any friends?” I squished my lips together and gazed over at him with an inquisitive, yet innocent, look. I hoped he wouldn’t feel put on the spot by me, well, putting him on the spot.
He tensed up a bit and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. “I do. I just haven’t seen many of them in a very, very long time,” he replied with a coy smile and a flicker of sadness in his eyes.
“Well, do you, um, think that I might meet them someday?” I twiddled with the hem of my skirt and picked some pesky lint off my leggings.
He smiled wider with a slight laugh, then walked over and caressed my bruised upper arm. “Yes, in fact, I would very much love to bring you back to my homeland and introduce you to all of them someday.” He placed a soft kiss on my smiling lips. I imagined us romantically walking hand in hand down the beautiful streets of Helsinki. I couldn’t help but wonder during what season we would go visit. Spring would likely be best. I wasn’t sure if I could handle a Finnish winter, considering I thought New England’s winters were bad enough. “Well, let’s bring these boxes to the car,” he said as he stacked a few and picked them up, pulling me out of my brief fantasy.
A few crows were still cawing away, sitting in the burgundy-adorned oak above. It seemed as though the loud little fuckers were taunting me as I struggled to fit the last box into Ashton’s back seat. My hair blew all around in the chilling wind while I grumbled and shoved at the flimsy, idiotic cardboard. Strong, warm arms caged me in, as Ashton effortlessly pushed the box where it needed to be. I turned around to face him and gave him a thankful smile.
“Everyone’s in the side yard. We should go talk to them and let them know about your new living situation,” he suggested, as he affectionately smoothed out my disheveled hair. I peeked over the car to where Lacey, Darrell, William, and Oliver were all chatting by the overgrown, shriveled garden. Apprehension filled my gut. I suddenly wanted to jump in the car and speed away to Timbuktu instead of facing them. “Don’t worry. They’re your friends. I’m sure they’ll understand.” Ashton gently caressed my cheek.
I gulped as he grabbed my hand and began leading me toward them. The sound of crunching gravel turned to the crunching of dead leaves as Ashton and I made our way over. You’d never be able to guess that something so sinister had just happened by the way everyone was chatting away so lightheartedly. William held a container filled with his leftover chimichangas and was sharing them with the group.
“Hey, there you guys are!” Lacey waved with a smile. “I was beginning to wonder if you ever made it out of bed!” She was tucked under Darrell’s arm and nibbling on a small chimichanga.
